"August in the Empire State" is a deceptively understated documentary about the protests that took place in New York City at the Republican Party convention in 2004.
It is focused on two characters who symbolize the class divide in Bush's America. One is Cheri Honkala, the National Spokesperson for the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign. Looking and sounding like a younger version of Lily Tomlin, she leads a delegation that is determined to force the realities of homelessness and hunger to the well-fed minions of George W. Bush attending the convention. They are even willing to risk arrest by marching without a permit. One of these delegates, her opposite number in the film, is Paul Rodriguez, a young Puerto Rican running for Congress on the GOP ticket in New York City. As the son of a single mother and a member of an oppressed nationality, he is not the typical Republican, however. It is to the film-maker's credit that they chose somebody like Rodriguez since. His affiliation with a party that has a racist record against Latinos makes one wonder what makes him tick. Documentaries that have this effect always tend to be more interesting than those that deal in pat explanations and stereotypes. full: http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2006/07/28/august-in-the-empire-state/ -- www.marxmail.org
